Rapid identification of antimicrometastases drugs using integrated model systems with two dimensional monolayer, three dimensional spheroids, and zebrafish xenotransplantation tumors.

Treating systemic metastases at the micrometastatic stage is a potential strategy to inhibit cancer metastasis. This study aims to establish an apoptosis sensor-based platform for rapid, effective, and noninvasive identification of drugs that can inhibit the proliferation of micrometastatic cancer cells. We stably transfected the plasmid DNA encoding the fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based caspase-3 sensor into highly metastatic melanoma B16F10 cells. The resulting B16F10-C3 cells were applied for screening of antiproliferative and proapoptotic drugs in two-dimensional (2D) monolayer, three-dimensional (3D) spheroids, and zebrafish xenotransplantation tumors. All studies were conducted in 96-well plates in a high throughput manner. Fourteen compounds including six chemotherapeutic drugs and eight kinase inhibitors were tested. Thirteen compounds failed the tests due to: Drug resistance, low efficacy, poor pharmacokinetic profile, and/or high side effects to zebrafish. The only compound that passed all tests was pan-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002, which inhibited the proliferation of B16F10-C3 cells in both 2D and 3D cultures. More important, it significantly reduced the xenograft tumor size in zebrafish by decreasing the viability of metastatic cancer cells. Our study suggests that the PI3K/AKT pathway is a potential therapeutic target for the reactivation of tumor dormancy and proliferation of micrometastases. Moreover, this integrated approach is effective for rapid identification of systemic antimetastases drugs.

A molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective solid-phase extraction of dimethomorph from ginseng samples.

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was synthesized and evaluated to selectively extract dimethomorph from ginseng samples. Dimethomorph molecularly imprinted polymers with template to monomer molar ratios were contrived and developed via precipitation polymerization employing methacrylic acid as functional monomer, ethylene dimethacrylate as cross-linker and butanone:N-heptane (7:3, v:v)as porogen. The LOD (limit of detection) of this method was 0.002 mg kg(-1), and the LOQ (limit of quantification) was 0.005 mg kg(-1). The different spiked level of ginseng was 0.1 mg kg(-1), 1.0 mg kg(-1), 5.0 mg kg(-1), and the average recovery of dimethomrph was 89.2-91.6%. Under the optimized condition, good linearity was obtained from 0.01 to 5 mg kg(-1) (r(2) ≥ 0.9997) with the relative standard deviations of less than 3.20%. This proposed MISPE-GC procedure eliminated the effect of template leakage on quantitative analysis and could be applied to direct determination of dimethomrph in ginseng samples.

Isolation of human cancer cell growth inhibitory, antimicrobial lateritin from a mixed fungal culture.

The purpose of this study was to attempt the reproducible coculture of more than two fungi for biosynthesis of potential antineoplastic substances. Five different fungi were simultaneously inoculated into broth cultures and grown for two weeks. Cancer cell line bioassay-guided fractionation, NMR, and mass spectroscopy led to the isolation and characterization of lateritin. Lateritin inhibited the growth of a mini-panel of human cancer cell lines, gram-positive bacteria, and Candida albicans. Individually, the five fungi did not synthesize detectable levels of lateritin. This study adds to the small but growing body of evidence that mixed fermentation is a viable avenue for natural product drug discovery. In addition, this is the first report of the reproducible coculture of more than two microbes for natural product biosynthesis, and the first report of the human solid tumor cell line and antimicrobial activities of lateritin.

Automated multiple development thin-layer chromatography for separation of opiate alkaloids and derivatives.

There are three types of opiate alkaloids. First, the poppy alkaloids: morphine, codeine, thebaine, noscapine and papaverine; then, the semi-synthetic and synthetic derivatives used in therapy as antitussives and analgesics, such as pholcodine, ethylmorphine and dextromethorphan; at last narcotic compounds, diacetylmorphine (heroin) and opiates employed as substitutes in treatment of addiction: buprenorphine and methadone. For classical thin-layer chromatography (TLC) of opium alkaloids, it is necessary to use complex eluents with strong alkaline substances to obtain a clean separation between morphinan and isoquinoline compounds. This study purposes the planar chromatographic analysis of these substances by the automated multiple development (AMD) compared with results obtained by classical TLC method. The aim of this work was to achieve the best separation of these opiate alkaloids and derivatives by this modern technique of planar chromatography. The AMD system provided a clean separation for each of three opiates groups studied and the best results have been obtained with universal gradient: methanol 100, methanol-dichloromethane 50/50, dichloromethane 100, dichloromethane 100, hexane 100 for opium alkaloids and with gradient A: 5% of 28% ammonia in methanol 100, acetone 100, acetone 100, ethyl acetate-dichloromethane 50/50, dichloromethane 100 for antitussives and substitutes. Two reagents were used for the detection of alkaloids by spraying: Dragendorff and iodoplatinate reagents. The detection limits with these two reagents were 1 microg for ethylmorphine, thebaine, papaverine, codeine, and 2 microg for morphine and noscapine and other alkaloids.

(3R,6R)-4-methyl-6-(1-methylethyl)-3-phenylmethyl-perhydro-1,4-oxazine-2,5-dione: an apoptosis-inducer from the fruiting bodies of Isaria japonica.

(3R,6R)-4-methyl-6-(1-methylethyl)-3-phenylmethylperhydro-1,4-oxazine-2,5-dione (1) was isolated from the fruiting bodies of Isaria japonica as an apoptosis-inducing agent. The complete structural assignment of the compound was accomplished on the basis of spectroscopic methods and chemical transformations. Compound 1 induced apoptotic cell death of the human leukemia cells (HL-60) in a dose-dependent manner, ranging from 5.0 microg/ml to 100.0 microg/ml.